Claude, an aging piano tuner, is called by a middle-aged woman, Michelle Placervent, to take a look at her piano. She stays in a crumbling 150-year old house that was previously owned by her late parents. After graduating from college, Michelle had come home to look after her mother. Now, 10 years after her mother’s death, her father has also passed away.  While taking a look at Michelle’s piano, Claude finds a pill stuck between two keys. Taking it out, Michelle explains that it belonged to her housekeeper who called it a “happy pill”. Michelle has never taken it since it is the only one she has. As Claude talks more with Michelle, he notices she is a bit emotionally unstable and realizes that she has dedicated a majority of her life to taking care of her parents. Now that they have passed away, she admits she has nothing to do. Michelle also plays a few pieces for Claude, and he notes that she plays well. Claude asks if she has considered moving, and Michelle replies that she cannot afford to. In a conversation later at dinner with his wife, Claude learns that Michelle had an overbearing father. Her father forced her to learn the piano and would often demand that she handle physical labor around the house. Two weeks after his previous visit, Claude receives a call from Michelle who is breaking down over the phone as she tells him that the keys among her piano are stuck. He convinces her to see a doctor while he examines the piano. A month later, Michelle visits Claude and she tells him that the doctor had given her prescriptions to try out. Claude notes that Michelle seems too happy and her state unnerves him. Michelle asks if Claude can help her find a job playing the piano and he calls his friend Sid who offers Michelle the opportunity to play in the motel lounge he manages. Michelle agrees and pleads with Claude to attend her performance. At the motel, Michelle’s performance goes well as she plays through pieces. Towards the end, however, Michelle plays Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 which does not fit with the motel’s atmosphere. Claude asks Michelle if she is okay and she vents her frustration about how she realizes she will have to play the piano for 23 years to pay off the renovation for her house. Claude does not see Michelle for a couple of months. He learns from Sid that she still plays at the motel bar on weekends and at other places. She also has figured out her medicine dosage. Mid-December, Michelle calls Claude to ask him to tune a new piano she bought. She is also trying to remove her current grand piano from the house by connecting it with a John Deere 720 by cable. In the process, Claude watches as the operation goes wrong and the piano, while being dragged, gets trapped in the house’s entryway. As the tractor keeps pulling the piano, the piano comes loose with the entire back wall of the house, initiating the house’s collapse. To top it off, a fire starts and the two watch the rubble burn. To Claude’s surprise, Michelle does not break down at the house’s collapse. She is not upset at all. Instead, she lets out a freeing laugh. A year later Sid updates Claude on how Michelle still plays at the motel bar. That evening, Claude attends her performance again and notices that she is doing alright. As he leaves the bar, he looks back and catches a glimpse of three couples rising to dance to Michelle’s playing.